1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a keyswitch and a keyboard and, more particularly, to a keyswitch and a keyboard with reinforcement structure.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recently, various consumer electronics become popular to our daily life, e.g. computer, PDA or smart phone, etc. In the meantime, various types of input devices are developed according to different applications. The most common input device for the electronics products right now is the keyboard, and the keyswitch is one of the basic components of the keyboard. In order to achieve better portability and mobility of the electronics products, the keyswitch and keyboard are in a trend to slimmer and more compact designs.
Please FIG. 1 and FIG. 2. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a keyboard 1 in prior art. FIG. 2 is a sectional view diagram illustrating a keyswitch 12 of the keyboard 1 in FIG. 1 along A-A direction. As shown in FIG. 1, the keyboard 1 includes a substrate 10 and keyswitches 12 disposed on the substrate 10.
As shown in FIG. 2, each keyswitch 12 includes a keycap 14 and a lift support device 16 respectively. The lift support device 16, disposed between the keycap 14 and the substrate 10, can be used for carrying the keycap 14 to move vertically relative to the substrate 10. There are first connection portions 100 disposed on the substrate 10. The first connection portions 100 are used for connecting with the lift support device 16 and providing connection strength for the vertical movement of the keycap 14.
Please refer to FIG. 3. FIG. 3 is an outside perspective view illustrating the substrate 10 in FIG. 2. The first connection portions 100 are formed from bending the substrate 10. In order to realize a slim and compact keyboard in practical application, the substrate 10 of the keyboard 1 usually adopt a thin aluminum plate, because that the aluminum material has advantages in high ductility, light weight and anti-rust. However, the aluminum material lacks sufficient rigidity compared to other materials. For example, the rigidity of the steel material reaches 29000 kilo-pound-force per square inch (Ksi); the rigidity of the titanium material reaches 15250 Ksi; the rigidity of the aluminum material is only 10500 Ksi. Therefore, the first connection 100 and the substrate 10 made of aluminum material suffer the problem of insufficient connection strength. When the first connection 100 is pulled by the lift support device 16 while the keycap 14 is moving, the first connection 100 may be deformed or deviated from normal position. It harms the durability and stability of the keyswitch 10 and the keyboard 1.
The invention discloses a keyswitch and a keyboard with reinforcement structure, which can elevate the durability and stability of the keyswitch and the keyboard, to solve aforesaid problems.